Are you crafty, want to be, or just like to watch?

Monthly Archives: June 2014

They have a snack program at my school, where the school provides healthy snacks every morning. Every time they have leftover bananas that get too ripe, they toss them in the freezer. So, now it is the last week of school, and they are trying to get rid of all of the bananas….my lucky day!
I do have a few banana bread recipes but I was not sure how they would turn out with frozen bananas…anyone know if the recipe will turn out the same? Anyways, I like to try new things, so I thought why not try a new banana bread recipe? Yolo right? So, I found this recipe that used frozen bananas….here is the link to the blog…banana bread recipe
Here is the recipe from the website, and the changes that I made in brackets…
3 bananas – (I used 5 bananas)
1 cup of white sugar (I used 1/3 cup of brown, and 1/3 cup of white sugar)
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of milk
1/4 cup of melted butter ( I used a couple tablespoons of oil)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups of flour
I added a teaspoon of vanilla too!
Although I didn’t follow the recipe exactly ( I know….I don’t think I have ever actually followed a recipe exactly before…) but what I did like about this particular recipe was that you mix everything together in one bowl, then you add the flour to the same bowl gradually. You don’t have to dirty two bowls, and I am all over that!
The recipe said to beat the eggs first, so I added the eggs in the bowl first, and beat them, then added the rest of the ingredients. (Once again, the logic was pure laziness…just didn’t want to dirty another bowl by beating the eggs)

Then I added the rest of the ingredients…and slowly mixed in the flour at the end…

Almost forgot about the chocolate chips! I don’t think I have baked that many things without chocolate chips since john and I started dating…

Then, I spooned the batter into muffin liners, and these cool paper loaf pans I found at the dollar store…

I ended up making three batches last night. I figured that once I have all of the ingredients out, and the bowls dirty, I might as well make a couple batches.

Three batches made 6 loaves, 24 cupcakes, and another small loaf.
They turned out moist, flavourful, and really good. I will make these again!
I actually put the loaves into bags with a little ribbon for gifts for a few people at work.

OK, before I freak out everyone I know, maybe I should clarify… I am not the one expecting…. (thank you lord!)…

Let me tell the story from the start. We are going to have baby birds!

Dylan and I noticed a couple weeks ago that a robin was trying to build a nest on an outdoor light outside his bedroom window. We watched it fly up with bits in his beak over and over.
Then we would watch as a gentle breeze would blow it right off of the light onto the patio. Here are some of the nest bits on the patio…

The robin would just start again, and again and again. Over a week, we probably watched it restart the nest at least 10 times. I couldn’t decide whether to laugh at the stupid bird or feel sorry for it.

But, my compassionate side took over. So, I got John to help me dig out the tall ladder. Even though I am afraid of heights, I braved the extreme heights, an risked my life to help this stupid bird. (My wonderfully supportive husband held the ladder in case you were wondering…he didn’t think I was being crazy at all….) The window beside the light is Dylan’s room.

Here is a close up of the light I took when I got to the top of the ladder, you can see a few of its failed nesting attempts hanging off the sides.

I have to admit that this isn’t by far my prettiest work, but as I said, I’m not a fan of heights, so when I was on the top step of the ladder, leaning over to reach the light, making it look pretty didn’t seem as important as staying alive (ok, that’s a tad dramatic, but still) I got a length of yellow rope and a metal bread basket, and I tied the breadbasket to the light. Once again, not pretty, but it did the job. Check out my handiwork!!

So, we patiently waited a few days, and nothing! I was just a tad bitter that I had risked my life and all, but I tried to let it go, and move on with my life.
But, wait, that’s not the end of the story! Dylan noticed the other day that the robin was sitting in the basket! But, we couldn’t see what was happening inside.

So, naturally, I leaned out the window over the nest to take a quick picture, and….

I saw the most perfectly made nest with two perfect little blue eggs! Isn’t it amazing! I would have taken a little longer to admire the miracle of nature, but the momma robin really didn’t appreciate me leaning out the window over her nest, she was making quite the racket! But, don’t worry, she’ll get used to it, she’s not going to get rid of me that easy!

My plan is to stick my phone out the window everyday until I see some baby birds…. don’t worry, I will be sure to share the pictures. You will be the first ones to know! Keep your fingers crossed though, we are expecting thunderstorms tomorrow.

Maybe I need to climb up the ladder again to rig something else up to extend the roof and keep the eggs dry, I’m sure John will think that’s a great idea 🙂

********UPDATE********
I was contemplating sending out birth announcements, but I thought I would write a post instead…. Look at the picture I took yesterday morning!!!

I was hoping the other egg would have hatched today, but
I tried to take another picture just now and let me tell you, those robins can be vicious…. Don’t let their cute little beaks fool you! All I did was lean out the window and stick my arm out over their nest to take a photo… and both the male and female took turns dive bombing me!
I guess I don’t blame them.
But isn’t the baby adorable???